1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an Alternating Current (AC) Plasma Display Panel (PDP), and more particularly, to an AC PDP having address electrodes that are shaped so that the luminous efficiency can be increased without increases in a driving voltage and the discharge delay time, and a method of forming the address electrodes on a rear substrate of the AC PDP.
2. Description of the Related Art
PDPs, which form an image using an electrical discharge, provide excellent display characteristics, such as luminance or a viewing angle, and accordingly, their use is increasing. In PDPs, a direct voltage or an alternating voltage is applied to electrodes and causes a discharge to occur in gas arranged between the electrodes. Ultraviolet rays are radiated during the gas discharge to cause an excitation of phosphors. The excited phosphors radiate visible rays.
PDPs can be classified as Direct Current (DC) PDPs or Alternating Current (AC) PDPs according to the type of discharging. DC PDPs include electrodes that are all exposed to a discharge space. In the DC PDPs, electrical charges directly move from one electrode to an opposite electrode. In the AC PDPs, at least one of electrodes is covered with a dielectric layer, and discharge occurs by wall charges and not by direct movement of electrical charges between opposite electrodes.
PDPs can also be classified as opposite discharge PDPs or surface discharge PDPs according to the arrangement of electrodes. In opposite discharge PDPs, one of a pair of sustaining electrodes is formed on a front substrate and the other sustaining electrode is formed on a rear substrate, and discharge occurs in the vertical axial direction. In surface discharge PDPs, a pair of sustaining electrodes is formed on the same substrate, and discharge occurs on one plane of the substrate.
The opposite discharge PDPs provide high luminous efficiency but have drawbacks in that a fluorescent layer is easily deteriorated by the plasma and in that a high voltage is required for discharge. Hence, surface discharge PDPs are widely used of late.